The recent 12-game slap on the wrist given by the American Hockey League to Trevor Gillies for repeatedly punching a defenseless William Carrier in the back of the head and them slamming his head onto the ice in an AHL game demonstrates that the rules that govern hockey effectively handcuff its gatekeepers and sheriffs.

I’m sure that officials of the AHL (a 30-team league that serves as a developmental circuit for the NHL) felt they went as far as they could go with this repeat offender — who previously had been suspended twice in the NHL for a total of 19 games. What is needed in professional hockey is a greater appreciation of a player’s history in dispensing punishment. This could give rise to something like the equivalent of what is known in criminal law as a Dangerous Offender designation.

The Criminal Code’s Dangerous Offender provisions are intended to protect Canadians from the most violent criminals in the country. A person is designated as a Dangerous Offender if it can be shown that they constitute a threat to the life, safety or physical well-being of the public; they may be sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment.

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Applying this principle to hockey: After three incidents in which players are hurt by the illegal (in the sense of being against the rules) actions of another player who is suspended multiple games for each of his misdeeds, it is proper for that player to be on the receiving end of an indefinite suspension.

No player in the history of the NHL has ever been permanently expelled. Even repeat offenders are currently given a second, or third, or fourth chance with escalating sanctions, including fines or suspensions.

To be fair, the NHL has made tremendous headway in lessening the incidence of concussions and reducing fighting in the game through rule changes and increased sanctions. There comes a time, though, when incremental or escalating sanctions are not enough. With Gillies’ meek suspension, that time has come.

What is being proposed is different from California’s “Three strikes and you’re out” sentencing law, which imposed a life sentence for almost any crime, no matter how minor, if the defendant had two prior convictions for serious or violent crimes.

The Canadian approach is that an offender who gets a third conviction for a violent crime that should result in a sentence of at least two years is now presumed to be a dangerous offender, if the previous convictions each resulted in a sentence of two years or more.

These recidivist pugilists are bad for the game, bad for the pocket books of team owners and bad for the players on the receiving end of the attacks

It is from analogous principles that hockey’s brain trust could contemplate a new policy. Repeat offenders who are so violent, so injurious and so egregiously breach the expected standard of play should never be permitted to play again. These recidivist pugilists are bad for the game, bad for the pocket books of team owners and bad for the players on the receiving end of the attacks.

Trevor Gillies could be the poster child for such a rule.

In the NHL, such a rule change would require the backing of the NHL and the Players Association. The league’s Competition Committee, comprised of equal numbers of players and club officials, makes recommendations about rules to the Board of Governors and the NHLPA Executive Board.

Supporting a measure that has the effect of permanently banishing one of its members likely is something the NHLPA would not support.

It is noteworthy, however, that Major League Baseball supported such a measure and crossed the Rubicon of doping in baseball only after Congress threatened to clean up the sport and after Commissioner Selig pushed for — over the opposition of the then-MLB Players Association Executive Director, who is now Executive Director of the NHLPA — a three-strikes-and-you’re-out approach. The policy suspends players for 50 games for a first doping offence, 100 games for the second and a lifetime ban for the third.

There is a precedent for a players union to support the lifetime ban of its members if certain lines are crossed. It is not unreasonable to want to make repeatedly injuring another player one of those lines.

In Abbotsford, B.C., fans of professional hockey finally have some reason to feel satisfied. Their American Hockey League (AHL) team has had an exceptional start to the 2012-13 season. The Heat is filled with exciting young prospects who may one day graduate to the big time, the NHL. Thanks to the current NHL lockout, the lesser league is getting more attention than usual. Such is the case even B.C.’s Fraser Valley where the Heat, now in their fourth campaign, have traditionally been a poor draw.

The team has an uneasy relationship with the surrounding community: It’s affiliated with the Calgary Flames, not the local favourite Vancouver Canucks. Worse, the team is a terrible burden to taxpayers. The Heat are a notoriously, scandalously subsidized business, operating against all principles of free enterprise, within a system run by wealthy owners and players who — even in the minor leagues — are paid big bucks to shoot pucks.

In its bid to land an AHL franchise more than three years ago, the City of Abbotsford offered up a sweetheart deal to prospective takers: A “supply fee” arrangement that commits the city to covering any annual revenue shortfall a new team might suffer, for a period of — count em — ten years. In other words, bring us an AHL team, don’t worry about the best business case, don’t worry about basic economics or market realities. We’ll pay.

An agreement was signed with a group of local investors in March 2009, before an AHL team was even secured. Thanks mainly to this prearranged “supply fee”, the Calgary Flames chose to deal with the local investors and move their peripatetic AHL affiliate — it had bounced from one place to another, never finding success — to Abbotsford.

How has that worked out?

Year One: Taxpayers fork over $450,637 to cover the Heat’s revenue miss.

Year Two: Much worse. $1.3 million is wasted on the Heat.

Year Three: Figures for the 2011-12 AHL season were released last week. A record $1.76 million revenue shortfall for the Heat, to be covered by Joe and Judy Ratepayer.

Will it ever end? Not until the 10-year agreement expires. Why would the Heat owners and the Calgary Flames bail before then? They’ve never had it so good. In the meantime, the team’s management must do a much better job selling to local fans their brand of hockey, even it is tainted by association to the despised Flames. Hustle more ticket sales. Do whatever it takes to cover all operating costs. Do that, and the Heat could create more than just a solid fan base. It could claim to be a legitimate business.

COLUMBUS — Hold onto your hats while we impart the following information: After one month of the 2011-12 season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are perched atop the standings in National Hockey League. This is neither a misprint nor an editorial oversight.

A rather easy 4-1 conquest of the downtrodden Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday night lifted Toronto’s league-leading record to 9-3-1 after 13 games. For those that have followed the Maple Leafs in the post-lockout NHL, nothing could provide more of a contrast.

Habitually slow to break from the gate, the Leafs have reversed that trend by capitalizing on a relatively soft schedule – and doing so out of virtual necessity. Another early-season stumble would have been catastrophic for a number of people, particularly head coach Ron Wilson.

Rather than fretting over a streak of ineptitude, however, Wilson has confidently guided his young, speedy club to heights that no one predicted, while embracing moves that would normally be fraught with peril. Such a decision was made prior to the game here on Thursday, when Wilson decided to rest back-up goalie Jonas Gustavsson and provide third-stringer Ben Scrivens his initial NHL start. Though making the call for a game against the cellar-dwelling Blue Jackets may not have seemed too risky, neither could the Leafs have afforded to yield such attainable points.

As it happened, everything worked out swimmingly for the hockey club and its rookie netminder.

In fact, it was Columbus counterpart Steve Mason who more resembled a jittery freshman. Mason allowed a back-breaking goal with 14.4 seconds remaining in the first period, whiffing on a shot by Clarke MacArthur that most NHL goalies would stop blind-folded. MacArthur’s routine volley from the left-wing boards somehow fluttered over Mason’s catching glove, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. The gaffe epitomized the Blue Jackets’ plight early in the season, as Columbus remains dead last in the NHL with a record of 2-10-1 after 13 games.

“At the moment, we’re first overall in the league and that’s quite an accomplishment for this team,” Wilson said. “We’re padding the points right now, which is important because we’re going to have a tough stretch somewhere down the line. We have to make hay while the sun shines.”

Drawing Columbus on the schedule at this juncture of the season was a break for the Leafs. Mason sulked off the ice after allowing the soft goal to MacArthur and clearly had not settled down by the start of the middle frame.

John-Michael Liles, with his first goal in a Toronto uniform, and MacArthur, with his second of the night, fattened the visitors’ lead to 4-0 by the 5:31 mark, at which point Columbus coach Scott Arniel had seen – and heard – enough.

Generating a Bronx cheer every time he touched the puck, Mason was mercifully given the hook in favour of back-up Allen York after MacArthur blew a low shot past him from the left-wing circle.

For Scrivens, the timing couldn’t have been better.

“How’s my hair?” the jocular goalie asked reporters as he entered an enormous media scrum after the game. “It was very exciting to play my first game and to make a good first impression. Hopefully, I did that and I couldn’t have without a good team in front of me. Columbus generated a lot of shots [39] but it was kind of deceiving, as they were throwing things at me from the corners.

“Every [goalie] has a game where he’s fighting the puck all night and that’s what happened to Mason. But, he’s a Calder Trophy winner that has proven himself in this league.”

Wilson said he made the decision to start Scrivens over Gustavsson when he was walking to Nationwide Arena for the club’s optional skate Thursday morning.

“I talked with my assistant coaches and we came to a fairly easy decision,” he explained.

The rookie stopped the first 17 shots he faced before another terrific-looking freshman – Ryan Johansen – slid a loose puck into the Toronto goal at 11:20 of the second period. Johansen, fourth pick of the 2010 NHL draft, used his 6-foot-3-inch frame to easily out-muscle Tyler Bozak in the crease for his third marker of the season. His first two NHL goals were the only game-winners for Columbus so far.

Numerous fans dressed in Leafs paraphernalia crowded the vicinity of Nationwide Arena before the match and filled out the announced gathering of 14,306.

As he did on Wednesday in Newark, Joey Crabb set the tone, taking a clever pass from Joffrey Lupul and beating Mason with a quick shot to the glove side at 6:09 of the opening frame. A plodding, energetic forward who spent the back end of last season with the Leafs, Crabb developed into an offensive force with the American Hockey League Toronto Marlies this year. His scoring exploits enabled him to supplant rookie Matt Frattin earlier this week and Crabb won’t be going anywhere if he continues to provide a spark.

The Leafs chartered home immediately after the game and will host Boston tomorrow night.

VANCOUVER — Two weeks ago, Ryan Kesler made headlines throughout the hockey world when he appeared undressed for ESPN The Magazine. Now he is making headlines again, this time because he is going to dress Tuesday for the Vancouver Canucks.

Kesler will be wearing his familiar No. 17 and his game-face when the Canucks tangle with the winless New York Rangers at Rogers Arena. He’s healthy again, recovered from hip surgery. He announced his return following Monday’s full-out practice.

“My hip is 100%,” Kesler said. “I’m definitely not going out there to limp into the lineup. It has been a long time coming and I’m excited about the opportunity to be able to play with the team again. I expect big things from myself.”

Kesler was originally injured during the third round of the playoffs against the San Jose Sharks. He didn’t miss a game in the Stanley Cup final series, but surgery was deemed necessary when the hip failed to respond to normal rehab. He had the operation July 25. It’s been 12 long weeks for the Selke Trophy winner and 41-goal scorer.

“It’s been a tough go, seeing the team play and things like that but it’s in the past now and there are positive times ahead,” Kesler said. “Now it’s going to be getting into the game-day routine again and going to war with these guys.”

Kesler scoffed at the notion the Canucks’ uninspired 2-2-1 start was due, in part, to a lack of passion, or emotion, qualities that he brings to the ice.

“No, not at all,” he said. “We started the same way last year and, for us, we just need to get back playing a full 60 minutes. That’s what we’ve been lacking.”

Kesler’s return will cause a ripple effect throughout coach Alain Vigneault’s lineup. The 27-year-old is set to pivot Vancouver’s second line between Chris Higgins and rookie Cody Hodgson, with the latter shifting from the middle to right wing. Mikael Samuelsson will drop down to skate on the third line, while Marco Sturm is almost certainly going to be scratched after five unproductive games.

To make room for Kesler on the 23-man roster, the Canucks also dispatched young defenceman Chris Tanev to the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves.

Needless to say, Vigneault is pleased to have Kesler back.

“Ryan came to see me this morning and told me he was 100 per cent ready to go,” Vigneault said. “He assured me the injury was behind him and we weren’t going to see him limping and we weren’t going to see any ‘pain faces.’ He’s ready to go and we’re going to put him in.”

By moving Hodgson to the wing, and Samuelsson down a line, Vigneault admitted he’s still searching for some chemistry among his forward ranks.

“We’re going to need other people to pick up their offensive contributions here,” Vigneault said. “Nobody has really caught my attention as far as I can say: ‘This guy can do the job for us.’ So I’m hoping that with a good player like Ryan back, he can help the other players around him become better and we’ll have a better read on what we have.”

JASPER, Alta. — Who gets the nod as the Edmonton Oilers opening-night starter in goal is a question.

If Oilers head coach Tom Renney has decided on his goaltender for the first game against the Penguins, in concert with goalie coach Fred Chabot, he’s not saying. Neither Devan Dubnyk nor Nikolai Khabibulin say they’ve been told, although neither had their right hand on a bible.

In Chicago, the Blackhawks signed training camp tryout Ray Emery to back up Corey Crawford, even though he had a 4.54 GAA, and sent rookie Alexander Salak to their American Hockey League farm team with his 1.94 GAA.

“Obviously, there’s hype as to who starts in the home opener,” Dubnyk said. “When you’re growing up, you want to be the guy to start the season, but I don’t think you can read a lot into who starts the first game.

“If it’s me, great. But there’s a lot of games, lots of ups and downs in a season.”

“I want to start (the opener), but whatever happens, happens,” said Khabibulin. “I do feel better moving, seeing the puck in traffic. It got better after the first game (three goals on seven shots against the Minnesota Wild). I feel better physically.

“Playing that last (exhibition) game against Vancouver was really good for me, going against that power play. You don’t get to practise against one of the best power plays in the league. I was happy we took some penalties. Of course, you want that in pre-season, not regular season.”

Khabibulin said he wouldn’t base goalie starts on pre-season stats if he was a coach.

“It’s hard to judge on a couple of games . . . there’s different players, you don’t have full lineups,” he said.

Dubnyk pointed out that goalies don’t get a lot of minutes or game action during the pre-season.

“Sometimes, you get half-a-game’s work and there’s some bad bounces and a couple go in, and there’s really no time to recover stats-wise. I wouldn’t read anything into (who had the better numbers).”

There is symbolism to being the opening-game starter. Khabibulin, who was coming off back surgery in Year 1 of his Oilers contract, had his best game of the season last October when he blanked the Calgary Flames 4-0.

Khabibulin made seven straight starts before Dubnyk got his first opportunity to play in Columbus against the Blue Jackets on Oct. 28. That won’t be the case this year.

“I don’t know what the formula (for starts) is going to be, but I certainly don’t see one guy running with this for a long period of time. For one, Devan has made himself legitimate. He should start more,” said Renney. “And Khabby is a starter in this league without a shadow of a doubt . . . but he’s not a young guy. When he has the opportunity to step away, regroup, stay fresh and get treatment, it will be good for him.”

Khabibulin turns 39 in three months.

Which goalie starts the first game isn’t a big deal to Renney, who may let the goalies know on Saturday.

“That’s more a question for them,” he said of the goalies. “For me, it’s putting the players on the ice who can get us a win. The goalies are going to be pivotal for us if we want to contend for a playoff spot, whether that’s Game 1 or Game 81.”

Khabibulin has vowed to be much more of a factor this season than in 2010-11 when the losses kept stacking up. He went a couple of months between victories, winning only 10 of 46 starts. He had a 3.40 GAA and .890 save percentage, pedestrian numbers, although Renney refuses to stick him on an island.

“Let’s cut the guy some slack, we were a work-in-progress from Day 1 and can you imagine playing goal behind that?” said Renney. “I thought he started out really well, but the season can take its toll on an older body. He had to suffer the growing pains of the team in front of him.

“Nick’s a competitor. He’s got terrific work habits. It’s a long season and playing goal is a tough position. It’s like being a catcher in baseball. After a while, things start to give way, so you have to sort of relinquish the job to somebody else here and there.

“But he’s a confident man. We need that from Nick. He’s part of our leadership group,” Renney said.

Dubnyk is still feeling his way into what might be a No. 1 job some day.

“I’m trying to build my game so that if I get the call to start more, I’ll be ready. I’m still young. I have to prove myself,” said Dubnyk. “I would certainly like to play more than I did at the start of last season, but back then I was concerned more with making the team, of being the No. 2 guy.”

James Reimer was once a fan. There was a time when he would pay big money for seats in the nosebleeds and when he would drive two hours from his home in Morweena, Man., just to see a game live in Winnipeg.

There was a time when he cheered along with a packed crowd. And, yes, there was even a time when he booed.

So Reimer gets it. He understands fan is short for fanatical, and that the passion of the sport can make rational people act irrationally. He was there when waffles were thrown onto the ice last season. He heard the “Fire Wilson” and “Sixty-seven” chants that echoed through the Air Canada Centre.

He knows what is around the corner as he opens the regular season on Thursday as the starting goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“I love getting mad if the team I’m cheering for is not doing well,” Reimer said Wednesday. “It’s part of being a fan. That’s what makes it fun.”

He knows. And yet he really does not know.

In 37 games last season, Reimer lived in the clouds as he almost led the Leafs to an improbable playoff berth. Fans called him Optimus Reim or the Reiminister of Defence. It was all rainbows and sunny days. Well, with one or two dark clouds.

“I do know how it is,” he said. “I had my own little experience of it, again very small. But I remember when Chicago came to town they announced my name — big cheer. I let in three goals on four shots or something and they gave me the Bronx cheer.

“It happens. I’m a fan too. I remember going to games and being mad when the home team loses. I’ve been in stands. I’ve paid money to see a game. I get riled up too. That’s the beauty of the game. The fans keep you accountable. The city keeps you accountable. That’s good. The worst-case scenario is if no one’s there. I’d rather have someone booing then no one there.”

An empty arena is never the scenario in Toronto. The fans will always be there. It is the goaltenders that tend to vanish.

This city has been a goalie graveyard since the 2004-05 lockout, claiming the careers of Ed Belfour, Andrew Raycroft and Vesa Toskala. All arrived with a certain level of hype. And all were eventually booed out the door as though they had never played the position.

That could easily happen to Reimer. As good as he was as a rookie last season — he went 20-10-5 with a .921 save percentage — it was a small sample of work. Reimer made his first start on New Year’s Day and did not become the No. 1 goaltender until February, when the Leafs were well out of a playoff spot.

There were no expectations. Few even knew who he was.

Now, head coach Ron Wilson’s fears
have essentially come true. No statues have been erected in Reimer’s honour. But as he enters this season, he does not come in as a sophomore looking to learn the ropes, but rather as a saviour who is expected to lead the Leafs to a place where they have not been in six years.

“James is one of those guys that have to play good,” goaltending coach François Allaire said. “If he plays good enough, we’ll make the playoffs.”

“You saw what he did for us last year. He was a difference-maker, for sure,” forward Colby Armstrong said. “I know we put a lot on his shoulders around here, but we’re all in it together at the end of the day.”

Many teams ask the same out of their goaltenders. But few of those goaltenders are 23 years old with 37 games of NHL experience.

There are going to be growing pains with Reimer. There are going to be nights where he looks awkward in net, when he gives up five, six or even seven goals. There are going to be nights where it looked like last season was a fluke.

“I wish that we could go 82-0 and I get a shutout every game. But that’s not the case. That’s not what’s going to happen,” Reimer said. “It’s tough to play in this league and it’s extremely tough to win.

“There’s been plenty of tough times in my career. And you battle through it and you gain so much experience and life lessons through it. You know how to handle it. So when you get to this level, there’s less of those growing pains because you’ve experienced so much in your career.”

People forget that Reimer was not supposed to be here. That not very many people believed he was capable of playing in the NHL — or the AHL, or major junior.

A scout had to stick out his neck for Reimer to make the Red Deer Rebels. Even then, he was almost cut from the team. Four years later, the Leafs drafted him in the fourth round. But his first stop in the pros was the ECHL, a sort of Bermuda Triangle for lower prospects.

“Spending a year in that league is not a fun thing to do,” Toronto Marlies head coach Dallas Eakins said. “Look it up, there’s not a whole lot of guys in that league that make it to the AHL. Forget the NHL.”

Reimer made the most of the situation, winning a championship in 2008-09 with the South Carolina Stingrays. The following season, adversity struck again. Reimer suffered a nasty high-ankle sprain while playing for the Marlies and missed about three months. Though he eventually returned, his place in the organization seemed to be in doubt when the Leafs signed free agents Jussi Rynnas and Ben Scrivens.

It was around that time Reimer called his agent, wondering just where he fit in the franchise’s plans. It did not seem to be with the Leafs, with Reimer seemingly stuck behind J-S Giguère and Jonas Gustavsson. And it looked like he was falling down the depth chart.

“When I started with James, no one thought he would be a player and I loved that,” agent Ray Petkau said. “But I always remind him that if you play it to have fun, then you’ll play better.”

On the eve of his first NHL regular-season opener, Reimer was doing just that. He was not thinking about the pressures ahead. He was hanging back after practice with a few other stragglers, rolling around in his crease as though he were Dominik Hasek.

Even with his mask on, you could see that he was smiling.

“You know what, I’ve changed. But the important things haven’t,” he said. “That’s the love to play this game and having fun with it. Even now, after practice, the last five minutes, just goofing off and having fun in the net, you know what I mean. Making terribly non-fundamental saves. Just playing because I love it.

“It doesn’t matter where I am, whether it’s the East Coast, the AHL or here. There’s bigger crowds and more hype, the excitement’s a little more, but it’s just having fun.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/06/reimer-just-having-fun/feed/0stdAfter his unlikely rise to becoming the team’s No. 1 goaltender last spring, the Leafs will be counting on James Reimer to be solid in net if they hope to contend for a playoff spot.Hall used to Oilers’ training camp tensionhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/30/32-players-still-fighting-to-make-oilers-roster/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/30/32-players-still-fighting-to-make-oilers-roster/#commentsFri, 30 Sep 2011 13:00:04 +0000http://sports.nationalpost.com/?p=48912

By Joanne Ireland

EDMONTON — This time last year, uneasiness was Taylor Hall’s constant companion.

Even the National Hockey League’s No. 1 draft pick didn’t know whether or not he was going to make the Edmonton Oilers’ roster for the season opener.

Hall said on Thursday that it wasn’t until the regular season was five games old that he got the word that he was staying put, so he’s well aware of the tension some of his teammates are now experiencing.

“It is a tough time. All you can do is come to the rink and work as hard as you can, but it’s not fun not knowing where you’re going to be the next day,” said Hall, who is in a much different frame of mind in his second NHL training camp as the Oilers head into their final two pre-season games.

The Oilers play the Wild in Minnesota on Friday and the Canucks in Vancouver on Saturday before the roster is reduced once again.

There are still 32 players in the mix, including the injured Sam Gagner (sprained ankle) and Ben Eager (concussion/whiplash).

Defenceman Colten Teubert and winger Antti Tyrvainen were assigned to the American Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Barons, while goaltender Yann Danis was placed on waivers so he could be moved to the AHL team.

“I don’t think it’s as nerve-wracking now as it would have been when I was younger, but I am fully aware of how crucial my play will be in these next two games. It will dictate whether or not I’ll have an opportunity to stay for the start of the season,” said Ryan O’Marra, one of the forwards still auditioning for a roster spot.

“I came in trying to make this team, so this is essentially the most important weekend to date for me. I have to give them every reason to keep me.”

These are uneasy times for the likes of O’Marra and Jeff Petry and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the No. 1 pick from the 2011 NHL entry draft.

Nugent-Hopkins, an 18-year-old centre who will skate with Jordan Eberle and Ryan Smyth in Vancouver, said he’s trying not to approach his last pre-season appearance any differently than his first.

He’s also an exception as he could play as many as nine regular-season games before the Oilers decide whether or not to send him back to junior with the Red Deer Rebels in the Western Hockey League.

The remaining players who don’t make the 23-man roster next week will immediate make their way to Oklahoma City.

“I’m not that nervous,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “It’s definitely coming up fast, but I’m going to try and approach these games like I have the others.”

Others, like Hall, are just focussed on getting themselves ready for the opener.

“This is a lot better than last year. Last year, it was stressful,” Hall said. “I didn’t know if I was going to play on the team or what was going to happen on that front. And I had to worry about things on the ice, and it was a struggle to get used to the NHL level.

“I knew it would come eventually, (but) this pre-season, I feel a lot more used to the team, to the city, to the NHL.”

MONTREAL — On Saturday night, Robin Lehner was back in the crease where his NHL career started in emergency fashion 11 months ago.

Yet while the Bell Centre surroundings may have been familiar, the 20-year-old Ottawa Senators goaltender insists he’s a changed person after his whirlwind 2010-11 season.

Everything is relative, of course.

Lehner is still at ease making conversation, but he has learned to be less controversial, choosing his words more carefully.

“I matured,” he said with a slight smile after the Senators practised at Scotiabank Place on Saturday morning before making the bus trip to Montreal. “A little bit, at least.”

Case in point is how Lehner is dealing with his new reality.

Unless Craig Anderson suffers a serious injury, Lehner will spend most of the season with Binghamton of the American Hockey League.

That’s where he finished out the 2010-11 campaign, winning playoff MVP honours while leading Binghamton to the Calder Cup title.

The plan is for him to play anywhere from 50-60 games in the AHL, so that the organization can see how he stands up to playing almost every night for a full season. At this point, if Anderson needs a night off, Alex Auld will take his spot.

Lehner has never hidden his competitive spirit. If he had his way, this training camp would be about battling Auld to stay in the big leagues, even if that meant being a backup behind Anderson on most nights. He believes that he can develop by facing NHL shooters in practice every day.

The difference from last year, however, is that he’s not screaming about the injustice of it all.

“I kind of know the answers before I get them right now,” he said. “I’m not up here to battle for a second spot, in their eyes. I have to try and understand their plans and go with it. They’re the bosses.”

Lehner could write a book about everything that happened to him last year.

As Pascal Leclaire suffered through a series of injuries, Lehner was caught in the middle, forced into the NHL only weeks into his pro career.

He made an emergency five-minute appearance against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 16, forced into the net when Brian Elliott suffered a broken skate blade, becoming the youngest goaltender to ever play for the Senators and the youngest Swedish goaltender to play in the NHL.

He then represented Sweden at the IIHF world junior championship, where he delivered an uneven performance and will be best remembered for his profanity-laced criticism of a poor officiating call.

With Leclaire remaining out and Elliott struggling, suffering from a crisis of confidence, Lehner was also given a chance to start in Ottawa. He went 1-4 with a 3.52 goals-against average with the Senators.

Only when Anderson arrived in a trade on Feb. 18 did Lehner’s season settle down.

He went back to Binghamton, where he served mostly as a backup until he replaced fan favourite Barry Brust with Binghamton on the brink of elimination in the first round of the playoffs. Lehner delivered in a big way, posting a record of 14-4 with a 2.10 GAA and three shutouts as Binghamton emerged as the AHL champions.

As successful as the finish was, Lehner says there was no carry-over as he came to Ottawa this season.

He was happy with how he played in the rookie camp, but was disappointed by the way he played against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday, when he allowed three goals on 15 shots in his first pre-season appearance.

“It’s a new season and it takes a lot to build up that confidence,” he said. “What I did last year is not going to matter if I don’t do the same things in practice and games (this year). I had a really bad pre-season game in Toronto. You can’t take anything for granted, especially in my situation.”

Aaron Palushaj has had a taste of the National Hockey League, and that’s where he hopes to be on Oct. 6 when the Montreal Canadiens open the 2011-12 season in Toronto.

“My goal is to make the team coming out of training camp,” Palushaj said on a phone hookup from Toronto, where he was one of 26 players attending the NHL Players’ Association Rookie Showcase.

The two-day event, which ended with a scrimmage Tuesday, is a promotion for Upper Deck and Panini trading cards, and had Palushaj rubbing shoulders with top 2011 entry draft choices Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Gabriel Landeskog and Jonathan Huberdeau.

“I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in,” Palushaj said. “I’ve gained seven or eight pounds and it’s all muscle. My body fat is down by 2%.”

The improved conditioning is the result of hard work and a new regime prescribed by Ben Prentiss, a hockey-fitness guru based in Darien, Connecticut. The two hooked up after Palushaj went to New York for the wedding of former University of Michigan teammate Max Pacioretty.

“I had been working out at home in Michigan, and Max suggested that I join him in Connecticut,” Palushaj said. “It was a great experience working with players like Max, Marty St. Louis and Ryan Shannon.”

This will be the second Canadiens’ training camp for Palushaj, who was acquired from the St. Louis Blues in a Feb. 3, 2010 trade for Matt D’Agostini.

He feels that a solid season with the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs (22 goals and 35 assists in 57 games), a three-game stint with the Canadiens (no points and a plus-1 rating) and an improved defensive game will allow him to make a run at one of the few open spots on the roster.

“I’ve never had trouble putting up points, but I think the biggest challenge for a young player is the defensive game,” said Palushaj, who will turn 22 next week. “I feel that’s one area where I have improved since turning pro.”

Palushaj said that he benefitted from working with coaches Randy Cunneyworth and Randy Ladouceur last season in Hamilton, and it won’t hurt his cause to have them around at training camp next month.

Both coaches will be part of Jacques Martin’s staff in Montreal this season.

Palushaj said he drew some inspiration from the success his Hamilton teammates like David Desharnhais, Ryan White and Pacioretty had after being called up to the Canadiens.

“It’s good to know that you played on the same lines with those guys and they made it, but in the long run I have to be my own player,” Palushaj said. “I have to come into camp and show people what I can do.”

He’ll start that process at the Canadiens’ rookie camp, which opens Sept. 12.

The main camp begins with physicals on Sept. 15, and Palushaj and the other players will get an opportunity to display their talents as the Canadiens play eight exhibition games between Sept. 20 and Oct. 1.

The survivors will gather at the Blue Mountain ski resort in Collingwood, Ont., on Oct. 2 for the final three days of practice before the season opener.

VANCOUVER — Almost two years ago, on the first day of the Vancouver Canucks’ training camp, the organization approached a pair of journalists with a proposition.

Rick Rypien, who’d missed most of the 2008-09 season on a leave of absence, was prepared to talked about his situation. It was understood by those who covered the team that Rypien had been dealing with depression but, beyond that, nothing was known about the condition of this young man and the illness which chased him away from the game he loved.

Two years later, that’s still the case. Rypien was found dead in his Coleman, Alta., home last week and it all seems so utterly incomprehensible. Hadn’t he defeated his demons? Hadn’t he emerged from his dark struggle whole and intact?

That, of course, is what everyone wanted to believe and when Rypien signed a one-year deal with the Winnipeg Jets, it seemed he’d finally stepped into the light.

But, as Canucks general manager Mike Gillis came to learn, it’s never that easy with mental illness. Things are never really as they appear. There can be good days, good weeks, even good months and, when he was at his best, Rypien looked like he could play in the NHL for a decade.

Then, it could all change and everyone was powerless to do anything about it.

“It’s a constant and relentless battle,” said Gillis, the day after he returned from Rypien’s funeral. “It doesn’t disappear. It’s always lurking around and you have to understand and deal with that on a daily basis.”.

But for all that, for all the chaos and confusion, one thing became clear about Rypien. He was willing to talk about his illness, to expose himself to the most excruciating public scrutiny, because he thought his story could help others.

In the end he couldn’t help himself but, even in death, that ideal remains. There is much about mental illness which is beyond knowing. There is much about mental illness which defies reason.

But if Rypien’s story can compel one person to seek help; if it can put a human face to this debilitating disease, then, maybe, some value can come of this.

It isn’t much, but for those who were close to Rypien, that’s all they’ve got these days.

“I think Rick’s desire to talk about it was in trying to help others,” said Gillis. “I think we still have that opportunity.

“He was a wonderful guy.”

Gillis said that, in forthcoming weeks, the organization would tell Rypien’s story and chart the course of his six-year journey with the Canucks. It’s a remarkable story. It’s also a hero’s journey because, to understand how he kept coming back after mental illness kept him reeling, is to understand something about the young man’s courage.

You also just had to look a the pictures from the funeral to understand how he touched people. Kevin Bieksa was one of the pall bearers at the service. Rypien and Bieksa broke in with the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose and the two became fast friends. That friendship endured many tests but it endured.

You sense that hasn’t changed in the last week.

Those who attended the funeral also describe a scene in which Gillis, who’s not exactly the warm and fuzzy type, held Jets assistant general manager and former Moose GM Craig Heisinger in a long embrace. Heisinger was the man who brought Rypien to the organization, who guided him through the stormy waters and to the NHL.

Bieksa, Heisinger and Gillis all saw something in Rypien; something much more than the lost soul who couldn’t be counted on. That’s who they remember these days. That’s the person they want to tell the world about.

Gillis, in fact, is angry that assumptions have been made about Rypien; that owing to the way he played and his issues, he was a graduate of the Derek Boogaard-Bob Probert-John Kordic school of self-destruction. Rypien was troubled, yes. But he was the victim of a disease he couldn’t control and that’s what Gillis would like everyone to understand.